Napa county Grand jury demographics

In an effort to select a grand jury that reflects a representative cross-section of the Napa County community, the Napa Superior Court employs various methods of soliciting prospective candidates. These methods include obtaining recommendations from superior court judicial officers, community leaders, and citizens at large in the cities and towns of American Canyon, Calistoga, Napa, Oakville, Pope Valley, Rutherford, St. Helena, and Yountville, as well as outreach to various local civic organizations.

In addition to recommendations, the Court includes a bilingual announcement of the recruitment period in the billing statements to all customers of Napa Recycling & Waste Services (approximately 28,500 citizens), all customers of the City of Napa that receive a water bill (approximately 26,000 citizens), and all customers that receive an Upper Valley Waste Disposal bill (apprximately 11,500 citizens). The Court also distributes a press release to the news media early in the recruitment period, followed by an advertisement published weekly in newspapers of general circulation in American Canyon, Calistoga, Napa, St. Helena, and Yountville.

Effective January 1, 2007, rule 10.625 of the California Rules of Court mandated that the jury commissioner or designee collect certain demographic data from prospective regular grand jurors, that this information be maintained in a database, and that an annual summary be made available to the public. The demographic data collected is as follows: age range, gender, ethnicity, occupation, and how the grand juror initially became a candidate (random draw, volunteer application, or nomination by judicial officer).

By clicking on a link below, the information is summarized for that fiscal year’s prospective grand jurors, followed by a separate chart that provides the same information for only that fiscal year’s sworn grand jury of 19 Napa County residents.